Key management measures were rolled over to secure the tuna fishery for the coming year, said Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director General, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen. This was after a virtual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) last week.
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Tuesday 22 December 2020
Honiara, Solomon Islands
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Tuesday 22 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
An inquest this week has confirmed that Rev. Sila ‘Ahoafi (49) from Ha'avakatolo, drowned, after his body was recovered at sea in Kotu, Hapa'ai, on Friday morning December 18 .
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Monday 21 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A 44-year-old man who was sentenced to 16-months imprisonment for possession of illicit drugs, including 2.21 grams of methamphatamine, got his sentence fully suspended, and identity suppressed. He was a police informant who assisted in the seizure of other illicit drugs. The Crown counsel denied that there was any agreement for immunity for prosecution in return for the defendant's assistance
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Monday 21 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Ninety people, including 73 repatriates and health staff in-quarantine at the Makeke Camp on Friday were relocated to the Kupesi Hotel at Fua'amotu as a precaution, while Tropical Cyclone Yasa was approaching Tongan waters, MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma’u said today. Apart from minor crop damage, Tonga remained unscathed by TC Yasa.
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Monday 21 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
One hundred and sixty-two seasonal workers left Tonga for Brisbane, Australia today on a chartered flight, confirmed Paul Karalus of Tonga’s Air Terminal Services this afternoon.
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Monday 21 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The nine-months long, national curfews in Tonga have been lifted for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day and shortened for National Prayer Week 2021. The Declaration of a State of Emergency has been extended from 8:00pm today 21 December 2020 to 8:00pm 18 January 2021, including the National CoViD-19 Restrictions with changes.
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Monday 21 December 2020
New York, USA
Just as vaccines begin to offer hope for a path out of the pandemic, officials in Britain on Saturday sounded an urgent alarm about what they called a highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus circulating in England.
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Sunday 20 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Fua'amotu Tropical Cyclone Center was deactivated at 1:00pm today, as Tropical Cyclone Yasa weakened and was downgraded into a tropical low as it moved to the south-southwest, further away from Tongatapu and 'Eua this morning.
Saturday 19 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A gale warning remains in force for Tongatapu and 'Eua land areas this evening, as Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasa, now a weakening Cat. 1 system, is expected to lie at about 335km West of Nuku'alofa at 7:00pm today. Previous hurricane and storm warnings for Tonga have been downgraded by the Tonga Meteorological Service.
Friday 18 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A repeated drug offender Vainikolo Selu has been jailed for two-years nine-months at Hu'atolitoli Prison.
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Friday 18 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The first shipment of 16.6 metric tonnes of Tongan watermelons was exported to Auckland, New Zealand on December 17, after the October ban was lifted. It is a new milestone for Tonga's agricultural sector, said local farmer and exporter, Minoru Nishi Jr today.
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Friday 18 December 2020
Dunedin, New Zealand
Peter Latu was the sole 2020 graduate of the School of Surveying BSurv (Hons) programme, at the University of Otago on December 19.
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Thursday 17 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga is looking to the COVAX Facility to obtain a safe COVID-19 vaccine for Tonga in 2021, the CEO for Ministry of Health, Dr Siale ‘Akau‘ola said today at a press briefing at Vaiola Hospital. Tonga needs to wait for a vaccine that can be stored in the hospital freezers.
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Thursday 17 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga Navy's new patrol boat, the VOEA Ngahau Siliva which arrived from Australia on December 16, remains quarantined with 22-crew at the Nuku'alofa harbour.
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Thursday 17 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Brides and grooms filled the Registry Office in Nuku'alofa, today December 17 to tie the knot before government closes for the Christmas holidays tomorrow.
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Thursday 17 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
An extremely powerful Tropical Cyclone “Yasa”, is threatening Fiji today, where Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama warned people to prepare and evacuate low lying areas. Forecasters warned that wave heights around the eye of the storm could approach 14 meters (45 feet), with momentary gusts of up to 195 knots (390km/hr). TC Yasa threatens to cause damage on the scale of Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016. Meanwhile, a Tropical Cyclone Alert is now in force for Tonga.
Thursday 17 December 2020
Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand is preparing to support its Pacific partners to access safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines at the earliest opportunity, NZ Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Aupito William Sio said today in a joint statement.
Thursday 17 December 2020
Wellington, New Zealand
The New Zealand Government will purchase COVID-19 vaccines from pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Novavax, meaning every New Zealander will be able to be vaccinated, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “We have secured more than enough doses to cover our entire population plus the Pacific,” she said. Vaccinations for the public are on track to start in mid-2021.
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Thursday 17 December 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A US$30 million Development Policy Operation to support Tonga’s recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold, was approved by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on 15 December.
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Wednesday 16 December 2020
New York, USA
New York Times reporting: While many poor nations may be able to vaccinate at most 20% of their populations in 2021, some of the world’s richest countries have reserved enough doses to immunize their own multiple times over. “The high-income countries have gotten to the front of the line and cleared the shelves,” said Andrea Taylor, a Duke researcher who is studying the coronavirus vaccines contracts. But the outlook for most of the developing world is dire. Because of manufacturing limits, it could take until 2024 for many low-income countries to obtain enough vaccines to fully immunize their populations.
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